


candy crush

by honeymoonhere



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/F, Gender or Sex Swap, Genderswap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-11 13:49:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15973616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeymoonhere/pseuds/honeymoonhere
Summary: Second time's a charm, right?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i've been working on this way too long i'm SO glad i'm finally posting it oh god. (Also unbetad because I'm too scared to actually ask anyone i'm sorry :^))  
> enjoy!!! <33

The sweltering heat of summer wasn’t really the best time to play games that required Actual Thinking. In fact, the sweltering heat of summer wasn’t the best time to do anything, so maybe Yazi losing Candy Crush the third time in a row shouldn’t have been as devastating to her as it was. Although, maybe that was only those messages popping up every time, reminding her of her failure over and over again. Or something.

Level failed! :(

Try again?

Yazi groaned. 

“Oh my god, again.” She chucked her phone on the bed, where it landed pretty unceremoniously between the sheets, crossed her arms and let her head fall backwards against the window in defeat.

PJ looked up from where he was leaning against Yazi’s bed on the floor, glancing at the phone. He quirked an eyebrow. “Huh. Maybe that’s a sign.” 

“A sign for what. My misery? The inevitability of death?”  
She groaned again.  
“Peach, life is pointless.”

PJ sighed, mumbling a “you’re such a nihilist” and turning back to his Nintendo. He sat in the only tidy spot in her room, surrounded by various kinds of clothes (Yazi swore they were clean, she just had a bad habit of simply throwing things out of her closet to decide on an outfit) and last night’s take out leftovers (Okay that one, she really needed to get rid of.)  
“It’s really just Candy Crush, Yaz.”

The glare he earned with his words went unnoticed and she lifted her head again.  
“It’s my one and only joy in life, you ignorant rat.”

“That’s worrying.”

“Your mum’s worrying.”

“I doubt that.”

“Ugh, whatever.”

She twirled the hem of her shorts between her fingers. Normally, she avoided those as best she could, still opting for black skinny jeans in summer, no matter the temperature, but today that had been pretty much impossible. Some light was filtering through the half-closed roller blinds of her bedroom window, illuminating the room in a yellow glow and making the dust dancing in the air almost seem to be glittering. An unfamiliar Manchester summer heat had chased them out of the lecture halls back into the student dorms, shirts clinging to their skin and hair curling with every step. It was only moderately cooler inside though, as the dorm Yazi was staying at had some severe piping problems and thus the heating never turned off. She used to like saunas, but actually living in one had never been one of her dreams.

“You know how I love to download all kinds of weird apps?”

“Sadly, yes.”

“Maybe I should download that weird dating app”, she said, swinging her legs back and forth. “Y’know, that new one? I’ve got nothing to lose.”

“Tinder? Tinder is not weird. And yeah, I mean, your dignity is already in shambles anyway.”

PJ wasn’t fast enough to duck and the Lost DVD box set that had previously been carelessly thrown on Yazi’s windowsill hit him square in the chest. He yelped, starting. 

“Why!”

She grinned. She had always prided herself on being a good at throwing stuff. Sadly not a very capitalizable talent.

“Why, Yazi”, he groaned, wheezing and bending over, hand to his chest.

“Stop being so dramatic.”

“The edge of that bloody DVD hit my ribs!”, he said, pouting and rubbing the spot.

Yazi rolled her eyes. “I’ve literally seen you jump 10 feet from a window while being piss drunk, PJ. Without any injuries. Nothing. Not even a scratch.”

“That’s not the same!”, he protested.

“Uh-huh.”

“Anyway,” he lowered his hand, shifting a little. “Maybe you could try that.”

Yazi had started biting her thumbnail. “What’chu mean.”

“Online dating?”

“Oh, I mean, yeah, I totally could. But. Am I that desperate?”

“Is online dating desperate?”

“Kind of, I guess. I mean, isn’t that like yelling ‘Hey, I have no chance with anyone in real life so here I am, please love me’ into the void?”

PJ snorted. “Not really.”

“Yeah, well, you’ve been with Sophie for years.”

“So?”

“So”, Yazi said, “It’s not like you have any idea what it’s like to be in your twenties and lonely while all of your friends are dating someone. Or many someones.”

“It’s not my fault I met my soulmate with 19.”

“Gross.”

“It’s cute. We’re cute.”

Yazi shrugged. She couldn’t deny that. PJ and Sophie fit together in ways she’d rarely ever seen other couples do. From their sense of humor to the way they dressed and the way Sophie knew how to bring PJ back down when he’d got his head too high up in the clouds again. Truly gross. Yazi totally wasn’t jealous at all.

“Besides, you don’t need a significant other to be a whole and happy person, Yaz”, PJ said, Nintendo laying long forgotten next to him. The Mario theme song filtered quietly through it’s tiny speakers. Yazi sighed.

“I know”, she mumbled. She suddenly felt way younger than 21. “It’s dumb. I’m just being whiney. You know how I am sometimes.”

PJ grinned and picked up his console again.  
“God, yes, I do.”

She rolled her eyes and threw the next best thing in his general direction.

Thankfully, socks meeting forehead didn’t hurt too much.

\--------------------------------

 

Thursdays were a weird day. Too close to the weekend to feel fully hopeless but too far away from it to really feel comforting; and besides that, she only had one class on Thursdays and thus way too much time to think. PJ was working and Louise, well. Yazi hadn’t spoken to Louise for some time now. Maybe she should call again. Her finger stilled over a red candy, phone clasped tightly in her hands despite them being moderately sweaty by now. Maybe tomorrow.

She swiped down. A striped candy appeared.

Yeah, tomorrow sounded good.

She felt a sweat drop making its way down her forehead and she could practically feel her fringe curling through the moisture tangible in the air. Everything hurt. Summer was exhausting. A bump on the ground almost made her stumble and she finally tore her eyes away from her phone screen. 

The campus was nearly vacant. Understandably so, no one would want to set a step outside if they had the option to stay in with air conditioning or ice cream or whatever and for a moment Yazi herself forgot why the hell she had even stepped in this blistering heat in the first place.

Ah yes. The law degree.

Or rather, that one textbook for that one class of her law degree which she should have read weeks ago but totally forgot. She really knew how to stay on top of her classes. 

The university library door came in sight and Yazi pretty much dove through the door and into the cool entrance hall.

Still better than her dorm room.

 

2pm saw Yazi stumbling into Starbucks after several hours of slamming knowledge into her head she had no intentions of actually keeping there after the test. Murders were fun, yes, knowing exactly what the Queen did was fun, yes, but the details of ‘Contract Law’ were not. At all. Sadly, her uni didn’t share her opinion.

The shop smelt faintly like cinnamon and something she couldn’t quite put, but made her somewhat nostalgic for christmas. Maybe that was just her, but getting Starbucks in summer always felt like cheating on winter in a way. Like wearing scarfs in June or eating watermelon in January. Just, wrong.

Yazi glanced up to see a line of people waiting to place their orders. She groaned inwardly. Looked like she’d have to wait a few minutes in order to drown her sorrows in overpriced iced coffee. 

The girl queued up in front of her seemed to think the same thing as she took out her phone with a sigh, holding it at a rather weird angle in front of her. Yazi was pretty sure the whole line could see her screen. She raised an eyebrow. What kind of person put a photo of popcorn as their lockscreen?

The line moved and Yazi took that as a cue to take a look at her own device. It opened on a chat Yazi didn’t recognize until she saw the banner at the top. She cleared her throat and held her phone closer to her chest.

Oh yeah. The dating app. 

She may or may not have used her study breaks to download that app. And set up a profile. And fill in all the details. And swipe right on some people. Technically she could have used that time to study, but. Yeah. Law.

Looked like some people had swiped right on her as well. Five matches appeared in her inbox. A wave of embarrassment and overwhelmedness washed over her and she quickly put it away again. Good start.

The line moved and Yazi had to watch her step in order not to fall over a stray cup. The girl in front of her was still on her phone, tapping furiously. Yazi discretely glanced at her screen. She was mildly surprised to see the same dating app open on her phone, currently in swiping modus. Kind of shameless to just. Do that. In public. 

She had just swiped right on some guy Yazi thought she recognized from one of her classes. She’d never really liked him, he always looked like he’d just tasted the nastiest thing ever and was now forced to keep it in his mouth. He was a weird one.

Clearing her throat, she looked back to the front before it got too stalkerish, where some elderly lady seemed to have problems reading the menu, while the barista looked like she was about to go cry in a corner in desperation. Yazi felt that on a personal level. The barista had a cute face, tho. Round eyes and a cute nose and maybe Yazi could casually ask for her number or something while ordering. Not like she’d ever done something of that sort, actually, that wasn’t like her at all, wasn’t it kind of objectifying? On the other hand--

Her train of thought was quickly interrupted by someone slamming into her shoulder, making her stumble forward, right into dating app girl’s hunched over form. Yazi’s hands scrambled for something to hold on to and it almost felt like everything happened in slow motion when the girl lost grip of her phone with a start and it was sent falling to the ground, falling, falling, tumbling, until it hit the ground with a quiet ‘clack’ and Yazi had found her balance again.

Whoever had just invaded her personal space mumbled some sort of sorry, but Yazi was already scrambling to get the phone, thoughts racing because, oh god, what if it was broken, was that an iPhone? Yazi didn’t have enough money to afford proper food regularly, let alone a whole phone and. Wait. Her hand hovered over the device. She blinked. Her own face on the phone screen stared back, app banner looming over her and smile frozen in time.

Oh, god.

Yazi hadn’t noticed that Weird Girl had dove to the ground immediately as well and only now heard her squeak as their hands brushed. She pulled her own back as if she’d been stung and looked up into Yazi’s face with wide eyes. Yazi barely managed to look up, blink and register their proximity before the girl had inhaled sharply and snatched her phone back from the ground.

The last thing Yazi saw her do before she hurried out of the cafe was swipe left.

She was left with a weird tingling in her hand and mild offence in the back of her head. Swiping left directly in front of her? That was truly low.

“Sorry, but do you want to order anything or-?”

Yazi swirled around to see that the line was gone. The barista raised an eyebrow. Someone behind her cleared their throat. Yazi felt her cheeks heat up as she hurried to the counter.

At least the phone had seemed to be alright.

 

\-------------------------

Finals had slowly started to approach, which meant that PJ was now a permanent fixation in Yazi’s room. For some reason, at some point in their first year he had decided that he simply liked her room better than his own, despite all the faulty piping and prison-like appearance and Yazi just let him. She had never really liked being alone, anyway.

“Hey, peach.”

PJ hummed.

Yazi had her feet propped up against the wall, head hanging over the edge of her bed, staring at the ceiling. Her criminal law book laid long forgotten somewhere to her left. She’d probably just cram the day before the exam.  
“Do you think that’s mold between the weird crack and the top right corner?”

PJ looked up from his laptop, blinking disoriented for a moment before following Yazi’s gaze up to the ceiling.

“Huh.” He straightened his glasses. “Could be? I mean.” Squinting, he put his hands on the carpet behind him and leaned backwards. “Not that I’m, like, a mold expert, but that does look rather nasty.”

“Hm.”

 

“Oh right, when we’re already at the topic of being nasty.”

Yazi snorted and rolled around, so that she could actually look at PJ.

“How’s the online dating going?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me”, Yazi groaned and rolled onto her back again. “I haven’t opened the app in three days.”

“Well, that certainly sounds like you’re having fun.”

She glared at him while trying to puff a strand of her away from her eyes. She didn’t succeed. “Thanks, I totally am.”

“What’s wrong? No cute people on there?”

“I mean, no, that’s not it.” She turned back to the probably-mold on the ceiling. “I just don’t think it’s my thing. Deciding if you want to talk to someone based on what they put on the internet, it’s just-- I don’t know.”

“That’s how Cat found her boyfriend and they seem really happy together.”

She blinked. “I guess.”

“By the way, Yaz.” PJ pushed back his glasses and scratched his neck and Yazi knew whatever he’d say next wouldn’t be to her liking. “There’s this party at Cat’s tonight, and-- don’t make that face already!”

“Last time we went to Cat’s some freshman started crying the moment he saw you, literally jumped over a table and yelled about how much he loved ‘your music, Harry Styles’.”

“He was stoned!”

She threw her hands up in exasperation. “It was 6pm!”

“I know, I know.” PJ sighed. “But, y’know, maybe it’ll be fun! It’s been some time since we’ve last ventured out into the wild.”

“Well, duh, it’s exam season soon. We’re studying.”

“Are we?”

The look PJ gave her was enough to make her chest feel tight and anger spark in her belly. She knew that look. She hated it. She also hated how after all this time she was still so easily irritated by it. The law book poking her thigh suddenly felt like needle pricks.

“Don’t, PJ. Just don’t.”

If PJ noticed here jaw hardening and fingers curling, he didn’t comment on it. “Yaz.”

“What.” Her throat felt too tight.

“Let’s just… Give it a try?”, he said, voice raising at the end of the sentence in a question. 

Yazi stared at his hands wringing in his lap. He wasn’t wrong. She knew she was overreacting, she did, it was just a bad habit. An awful habit, really. And if she wasn’t going to study she could at least live a little. Not like she’d ever been good at that. It would make PJ happy, too. She exhaled. 

“... Okay.”

PJ’s hands stilled, a smile forming on his lips. “Thank you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s really not. I just-”, she trailed off. “Law.”

“I know.”

“And-- You know my moods.”

“I do.”

She dropped her head on her arm. A warmth ghosted over her hand and she took hold of it. PJ stroked her knuckles with a softness that chased some of the tightness in her chest away and Yazi slowly felt her shoulders loosen up.

“Wanna help me choose my outfit? I don’t understand fashion.”

Yazi snorted and PJ dropped his hand. “God, I know. But I do?”

“Definitely.”

“Alright then, you fashion goblin.”

“Love you, too.”

\-----------------

Yazi wasn’t too bad at the whole party etiquette if she was being honest. Despite her introverted nature and all the (countless) awkward situations she’d already got herself into, parties were something she had confidence in. Most people weren’t sober anyway, so even if she did get into yet another awkward scenario, few to zero people would remember it. The best kind of social set-up, if you asked her.

Cat lived near campus, just a two minute walk away from the main building and about 5 minutes away from the student dorms and thus, Yazi found herself in her kitchen two hours later. It was rather cramped and loud and dark and kind of moist and Yazi was really glad for PJ staying by her side. Speaking of the devil.

“PJ, is that you?”

Yazi and PJ turned around mid-talk to some guy approaching them, a wide smile on his face and a lightness in his step. PJ’s expression went blank for a moment before his whole face lit up.

“Chris! What! What brings you here!”

He turned to the newcomer, leaving Yazi standing next to kitchen sink with a red solo cup in her hand and way too little alcohol in her system.

 

Well, there went that.

She took a sip and leaned back against the kitchen counter. She recognized quite a few people here, but small talk really wasn’t her forte, so most conversations up until now had ended pretty quickly and. Yeah. People watching was fun as well.

“Oops, sorry, could you just--”, came a voice from her left and Yazi scrambled to move away from the sink. 

It took another five minutes until she’d finally found a place to somewhat rest, if you counted a small sofa surrounded by people which is also mysteriously sticky an appropriate place to rest, which Yazi did. Anything above PJ’s ratty old futon was comfortable, really. She drummed her fingers on her cup. It was barely filled anymore, but she’d started the night with beer and proceeded with Jägermeister, so a headache was pretty much guaranteed tomorrow morning. Although. She stopped drumming. It also meant it didn’t really matter if she drank more now.

“Yazi!”

The cry came from the other side of the room and Yazi damn nearly let go of her cup from starting so much. She had barely taken control of her hand coordination again as the cushion dipped down next to her and someone grabbed her arm with conviction.

“Yazi, Yazi, Yazi.”

She looked up and immediately a small wave of relief washed over her.

“Louise!”

Her exclamation was met with a wide, lipstick-red grin. Louise looked as fancy as always, with her white faux fur coat and her neatly curled blonde hair and Yazi caught herself tearing up a little at the sight of her sparkling earrings. Maybe she had drunk more than she remembered.

“Oh my god, we haven’t seen each other in ages.” Yazi felt herself smiling. The action stretched her cheeks weirdly.

“I know, I know! Life’s been a whirlwind these past few weeks, hasn’t it”, Louise sighed. She certainly didn't look like it. Yazi took another swig and nodded slowly.

“Yeah, it has.”

“So, what’ve you been up to?”

They both knew Yazi’s life had been anything but eventful.

“Uh.” Yazi twirled the cup in her hands. “Y’know. Studying. Living the life.” She took a sip. “Studying.”

Louise chuckled. The music seemed to get gradually louder. Or maybe that was just Yazi. “Right, it’s exam season soon. You totally lose your grab on the concept of time after graduation.”

“How’s your job?”

“Huh?” Louise leaned in closer and brushed a loose strand of platinum hair behind her ear.

“How’s your job?” Yazi was practically screaming into her ear at this point.

“Ah, well, it’s fine! Really fun, although some patients-” She shook her head, sighing. “They’re something else.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, but well, I’m here for them, so everything’s alright!”

Yazi countered Louise’s bright smile with a more muted one of her own. She suddenly felt a twinge of sadness in her chest. Ever since Louise had started working as a therapist, their paths had rarely ever crossed. Truthfully, Yazi hadn’t done anything to improve the situation, but--

“I miss you.”

“You’ve already drunk a little, haven’t you”, Louise laughed. “But I miss you too, Yaz. It’s weird, being away from all of you. Which is why I’m super glad to still get invited to stuff like-” She waved her hands around. “This!”

“I’m glad, too.”

“So, enough amenities!”

Yazi suddenly felt her hands being enveloped in warmth. She blinked, looked down at them and up again. Louise grinned back, squeezing her hands shortly.

“How’s it going in love lane?”

“Really?”, Yazi groaned and slumped back, which she regretted rather quickly upon discovering that the sofa was still weirdly damp.

Louise started wiggling her eyebrows. Yazi suddenly felt way too sober for this conversation.

“Nothing much”, she mumbled.

“Aw, that’s a shame”, Louise said. “But it’s kind of funny.”

“My sad love life is funny to you?”

“I mean, yeah, kind of, but that’s not what I meant. Uh, actually--” Louise turned around, eyes searching the room, roaming over the sea of bodies. “Ah, there she is. Fiona!”

Louise had a very loud voice if she wanted to be heard. Yazi followed her gaze until it landed on a girl which promptly turned around. She looked at Louise with a questioning look, who in turn waved her over, smiling widely.

“Fiona here had the same answer, isn’t that right?” Louise said, raising her voice at the end of the sentence as Fiona had just reached them. 

“What is right?” Fiona asked, voice way more soft spoken, a blue cup in her hand. Yazi hadn’t even known they had blue cups here. 

“Nothing much is going on love-wise with you.”

“Louise!”, Fiona hissed, shoulders raising, now holding the beverage closer to her chest. Louise giggled good-willingly as Fiona looked more mortified by the second. Her flannel looked kind of nice with the sleeves rolled up, Yazi observed. It was blue just like the cup. And her earrings. Impressive colour coordination. Fiona’s look flicked to her for a second and Yazi straightened up. She felt as if the air had been punched out of her chest, not in a ‘ohmygodshessogorgeous’ kind of way (well, not fully, she did have rather nice blue eyes) but rather because-

“Oh my god.”

Louise and Fiona turned in her direction.

“You’re the girl whose phone I nearly broke.”

It took Fiona a moment. She blinked. Yazi blinked back. The music changed to something slower.

“Uh.”

Realisation dawned upon Fiona’s face and her cheeks reddened with a speed Yazi had never seen in her life. Yazi was kind of worried Fiona would faint right here and there.

“You’re the girl who ran into me in Starbucks.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Well, actually, someone pushed me, but basically, yes.”

“Wait, you know each other?” Louise asked and looked excitedly between them.

“I mean, not really.”

“She knocked my phone out of my hands, so.”

“It was an accident!”

A small smile made her way onto Fiona’s face. Yazi decided she liked that way better than her earlier frown. “Sure, Jan.”

“What a coincidence”, Louise said, grinning. “Soo! Let’s get you introduced properly.”

She put her hands on Yazi shoulders with force, almost making her topple over. Louise had a strong grip for her height.

“This cutie here is Yazi. And-” She let go to grab Fiona’s free arm. “This sweetheart is Fiona.”

Fiona giggled, actually giggled, and extended her hand. “Nice to meet you, nearly-phone-breaker.”

Yazi took it. Her hand was warm and soft and she suddenly felt self-conscious about her own dry ones. The dim lights of the living room reflected in Fiona’s glasses as she smiled.

“Nice to meet you, too, Starbucks-Tinder-girl.”

“Oh my god, you saw that?”, Fiona groaned, red returning to her cheeks.

“Hell yeah, I did”, Yazi grinned.

Their hands lingered and Yazi didn’t really want to let go. Fiona still hadn’t broken eye contact. Yaz spotted some freckles right under her eyes, hidden under the lilac light dancing on her cheekbones. In retrospekt, Yazi wasn’t too sure why that seemed to matter so much in the moment but god damn it did. It mattered a whole lot. 

She was about to open her mouth again to say something, anything to break the heavy atmosphere when Fiona suddenly yelped and stumbled forwards, liquid spilling out of her cup and Yazi’s pants suddenly felt suspiciously wet and cold at the knees, making her spring up. She nearly hit Fiona’s chin as she straightened up again. Fiona had a very deer-in-the-headlights-like look in her eyes and had started to sputter apologies while lowering to inspect Yazi’s pants with a now empty cup clasped in her hands.

“Oh god, oh no, I’m so sorry, shit”, Fiona apologized over and over again and Yazi had kind of moved over to her side to get away from the dark spot forming on the edge of the couch.

“It’s okay,” (it wasn’t) “I just, uh, maybe I should pat it dry?” (those were her brand new jeans) “I just-, need a towel--” (she prayed to every higher instance it wouldn’t leave a stain)”like- now?”

“Yes, yes, of course, uh.”

“Maybe in the kitchen?”, Louise pointed out helpfully and Yazi just then noticed that she was standing as well. She might have heard her shriek earlier too. She wasn’t sure, tho.

“Yes, good idea, should we--?”

Yazi just nodded and followed Fiona who was already hurrying through the crowd, guilt visible in every movement of her limbs. Or, well, hurried as much as she could, as packed as it was.

 

Yazi decided that kitchens just had a weird aura as she was sat on the cold floor of Cat’s apartment. Fiona kneeled to her left, carefully dabbing at Yazi’s knees. She had taken off her flannel and decided to tie it around her waist before sitting down and was left with a grey sleeveless top. There were freckles on her shoulders, too. From were she was sitting Yazi could see the ginger roots on the top of her lowered head. Kitchens kind of just felt weird, especially at parties. Wasn’t there a word for that? Liminal spaces, was it?

Fiona sighed, hand slowing down. She looked up through her lashes. Her fringe fell into her eyes and she brushed it back. The buzz of everyone else seemed to fade to background noise.

“I’m really sorry.”

“It’s no big deal, really. My knees have seen worse”, Yazi tried to joke. The guilt didn’t leave Fiona’s eyes.

“Ugh.”

“Seriously, don’t worry.”

“If I’ve ruined your jeans or something I’d never forgive myself.”

“What did you spill on me, anyway?”

“Um. Sprite?”

Yazi snorted. Fiona raised her head, blinking. Yazi burst out laughing.

“This is so weird. What the fuck.”

“What?”

“We’re sat on the kitchen floor in some apartment, just having had our second run-in accident together and now you’re here, rubbing at my legs.” Yazi threw her hands in the air, barely missing Fiona’s nose and started laughing even harder. “We barely even know each other. Fuck.”

The corners of Fiona’s mouth slowly started to lift.  
“Fate really likes to throw us together, huh.”

“Quite literally even.”

Now Fiona was laughing as well, the sound warm and high. Yazi felt warm all over.

“I guess that’s right.”

 

\--------

It’s strange how once we become aware of something we suddenly see it everywhere.

The cheese aisle of ASDA was eerily quiet, safe for the whirring of the cooling mechanisms. Yazi was tempted to stick her head between the Mozzarella packs. They were well into September but the heat just wouldn’t budge. She stared at the pack of Emmentaler in her hands. The holes seemed to stare back. Yazi suddenly felt a weird sense of deja-vu which got amplified by her phone ringing, positively shaking her own of her thoughts. She scrambled to get it.

‘Grandma’ was blinking in bold letters on the screen. She swiped to answer.

“Hello?”, she said and dropped the cheese into her shopping bag. Somehow she managed to wedge her phone between her shoulder and cheek and ventured over to the pesto.

“Yazi.”

“Mum?” Yazi stopped in her tracks.

“That’s me.”

“Why are you calling from grandma’s phone?”

A crackling sigh filtered through the phone speakers. Yazi was well acquainted with that one. It never failed to make her skin prickle with irritation.

“Yeah, nice to speak to you as well.”

“Sorry. But, like, why are you?” Yazi took hold of her phone again and slowly walked over to the vegetables. She may barely be able to afford them but once in a while she needed to give her body at least some vitamins. 

“She told me you called her earlier. She’s currently in her Sudoku club though, so she asked me to ask you if everything’s okay. Is it?”

“Um.”

The line crackled and Yazi could practically see her mother raising her eyebrows, waiting.

“Well. I wanted to talk to her. About… Something.”

“I know, that’s why we’re both here. Talking.”

“Yeah”, Yazi mumbled, putting another paprika in the basket. Her hand hovered over the plastic bag dispenser but she withdrew it again. Saving the wales and all that jazz.

“Yazi.”

“Huh?”

“Just tell me, honey.” Her mother was audibly growing impatient and Yazi felt irritation prickle at the base of her neck. “Was it important? If not, she’ll be back in around an hour--”

“I want to leave university.”

Phone static filled Yazi’s ears. The vegetable aisle suddenly felt freezing. Her right hand grew sweaty, so she changed the phone to her left.

“Hello?”, she asked. “Mum?”

“What did you say?”

“I’m thinking about quitting the law degree, mum. That’s why I wanted to call grandma.” She cleared her throat. “To… Talk about that.” The irritation had faded and had now been replaced by a numbness in her arms. Saying the words out loud didn’t feel as liberating as she’d been anticipating. 

“Are you serious?”

Yazi flinched. And elderly man sent her a worried glance. She sent him a weak smile. Hearing the aggravation in her mother’s voice shouldn’t feel as painful as it did. Yazi couldn’t blame her though.

“Yes. I am. Look, mum--”

“No, you look, Yazi. You’re already in your second year. Do you have any idea how expensive university is? Do you?” Her mother’s voice grew louder with every word. “Law is a honorable field. And well-paid as well, do you want to end up like your uncle?”

“Mum”, Yazi whispered.

“With no money and no job? What else would you do anyway?”

Yazi didn’t dare to open her mouth.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought”, her mother sighed. 

“I’m hanging up now, mum.”

“Of course you are.”

She closed her eyes and inhaled slowly, shakily. Counting to 10, that’s what the article had said. Counting to 10 in order to calm down. 

“Bye, mum.”

She didn’t wait for an answer and pressed the red button flashing underneath the caller ID. The buzzing noise of the machines and people slowly filtered back into her consciousness again. She looked up and saw the cash register sign above her head. She didn’t remember walking here. Wasn’t there anything else she’d needed to buy? She furrowed her brows. She didn’t remember. 

She put the Emmentaler onto the conveyor belt. Was PJ still working? She didn’t know. A look outside showed that the sun had nearly set. He probably still was. He always worked late. As what? The line moved a little, Yazi went with it. How could she not know what PJ’s side job was?

“Ma’am, you’re 5 pence short.”

“Oh, really?”

Yazi looked up and nearly laughed out loud. Fiona was standing in front of the cashier, flustered and stiff and searching through her wallet. Of course Yazi would be a mess when Fiona was be nearby. 

“I-, uh, I don’t have any--”

“Here you go.” Yazi had moved next to Fiona, bumping her shoulder slightly in the process and holding out the 5 pence for the cashier. He took them without a word. Good thing she never took the loose change out of her pockets. On second thought, maybe she shouldn’t be too proud of that.

Fiona blinked, lost for a few seconds until recognition flashed across her face. Somehow, that made her cheeks turn pink as well.

“Have a nice day”, the cashier grunted and moved on to scan Yazi’s items. A closer look on his name tag said he was called Steve. What a name.

Fiona took the plastic bag from the countertop with a quiet “thanks” and turned back to Yazi, shuffling her feet. “Um. Thank you. You didn’t have to-”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it.” Yazi smiled, cheeks protesting as if the motion was unknown to them. Fiona smiled back without effort. “It’s only 5p, anyway.”

“Ugh, yeah, it’s for this foldable yoga mat?”, Fiona sighed and held up the bag shortly. “For my boss.”

Yazi raised her eyebrows. “Your boss makes you go buy foldable yoga mats?”

“That’ll be 13 pounds 75”, Steve The Cashier said and Yazi startled. She fumbled to get the money out, nearly dropping it in the process and paid quickly with Fiona giggling next to her. 

“Have a nice day”, he repeated. Yazi just nodded tightly, grabbed her vag and stepped away from the counter. Fiona followed her, hand in front of her mouth, shoulders shaking in effort not to laugh out loud. Yazi kind of wanted to die.

“Um”, she cleared her throat. “Where were we?”

Fiona straightened her glasses and grinned. They walked through the sliding door and slowly started to walk into the general direction of the student dorms. “My boss’s foldable yoga mat.”

“Uh, right. So, why the hell would your boss need that? And why do you have to buy it?”

“Well”, Fiona said, “She’s, uh… One of a kind.”

“Really sounds like that.”

“I’m honestly not sure myself what she needs the mat for. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even do yoga.”

Yazi snorted. “Do I want to know?”

“Eh, probably not.”

“What do you work as, anyway? And please don’t tell me yoga instructor.”

Fiona actually looked horrified at that thought. “God, no. I’m as athletic as my laptop.”

Yazi raised an eyebrow.

“I haven’t moved it in 2 months”, Fiona clarified. “Just like me.”

“What a mood.”

“And I work for the radio, by the way.”

“The radio?”, Yazi asked, raising her eyebrows. “Wow.”

“Uh, yeah. Not, like, the BBC or whatever big thing you’re thinking of right now, just like, a smaller, more local one. You’ve probably never heard of it.”

Yazi snorted.

“Ugh, that sounded way more pretentious and hipstery than it should have”, Fiona groaned, shoulders slumping inwards and cheeks reddening.

“Don’t worry, Fiona”, Yazi grinned.

“Oh, you remember my name!”

Yazi nearly walked into a lamp when Fiona’s face changed and lit up, the red still high in her cheeks and eyes bright. Even the harsh artificial street lamp light couldn’t dim them. Thankfully, Yazi did not only pride herself on being a good thrower but also being a pro at avoiding things. Responsibilities, deadlines, her parents, street lamps, you name it. 

“Of course I do”, Yazi smiled after having regained her balance, clearing her throat. “You’re kind of hard to forget.”

Fiona grinned. “I’ll take that as a compliment, Yazi.”

Yazi felt warm all over.

“Oh, uh, I’ll have to turn left here”, Fiona said, slowing down. Yazi stopped with her. She hadn’t even noticed that they’d already reached Yazi’s bus stop. The one with the leaking roof and the never-not-overflowing trash can. Very inviting.

“Ah, really?”, Yazi asked. Fiona nodded, mouth twisting downwards. Yazi had to actively restrain herself form pouting. It was weird, talking to people you didn’t know too well yet. You never really knew what’s appropriate when silence starts to spread between you. Fiona wasn’t saying anything. She was probably too polite to tell Yazi to take a hint and leave. 

Yazi put her hands in her pockets and tilted her head. “See you around, then?”

“Yeah…”, Fiona answered, slightly rocking forwards and backwards on her feet. Yazi felt something wet hit her nose. She looked up, the clouds looming over their heads had turned grey without them noticing. Fiona followed Yazi’s gaze. The sky suddenly grumbled not unlike PJ without coffee in morning lectures.

“Oh, god”, Fiona mumbled. “Yeah, I should really get going.”

“Hmh.”

“I’ve got a date later on, don’t wanna turn up with wet and disgusting hair.” She laughed the last few words, pinning the mattress under her one arm while turning to fumble at the zipper of her bag. Or rather, struggle with it. It slowly started to drizzle. “I should have an umbrella in there somewhere, I think.” 

“Ah, wait, lemme help you with that--”, Yazi practically jumped forward, bending down a little, as their height difference was bigger than she’d noticed. Fiona made a noise in the back of her throat and it was only when Yazi’s hands already hovered over the bag that she’d noticed that she was heavily invading Fiona’s personal space. Like, full on. She sprung back immediately.

“Oh god, sorry, I, uh, should have asked you first--”

“No, it’s- it’s okay, I was just surprised is all.”

Yazi looked up to see Fiona’s cheeks slightly reddened, but (Yazi was relieved) with a slight smile on her lips.

“I’m just--”, Fiona exhaled. “A bit on edge today.”

“Ah, don’t worry. I just don’t wanna scare you off or anything,” Yazi laughed, voice getting more quiet with every word.

Fiona huffed, smiling and rearranging the mattress under her arm. “I think it needs more than that to get rid of me.”

“Oh yeah?” Yazi raised an eyebrow, a grin returning to her face. Somehow, it was hard not to smile around her.

“Yeah.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“Oh yeah?” Fiona was full on grinning now.

“Yeah”, Yazi countered. 

“Well then.”

They both stood there, grinning like idiots and it was only when a especially fat drop landed in the middle of Yazi’s head that she remembered the grey clouds above them.

“Oh, uh, it’s starting to properly rain, I think.”

“God, yes, right, um.” Fiona looked at her bag helplessly, then up to Yazi again. “Could you, if that’s alright, get my umbrella out--”

“Yes, of course, hold on--”

The zipper was stuck for a moment but quickly budged with a bit of force and a glare. Fiona giggled. Yazi took the umbrella out with a “ha-ha!”.

“Thank you, Yazi.”

“It’s nothing, really.”

Fiona opened it and sighed. “I’m not even sure how much I like the guy.”

Yazi blinked.

“The, uh, date I was talking about earlier?”

“Oh, yeah, right, uh”, Yazi said. “What do you mean ‘you don’t know’?”

“Well. We met through a dating app and this is the first time we’ll meet up. You know, tinder?”

Yazi eyebrows shot towards the sky.

“What”, Fiona mumbled, “it’s not that uncommon nowadays.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Anyway, so we’ve never met and I don’t know what he’ll be like and-” Fiona sighed. “Sorry. Now I’m just standing here oversharing to a person I barely know.”

Yazi chuckled. “It’s alright. Overshare your heart out, it’s one of my few talents.”

“Really,” Fiona laughed. “Glad to have found my soulmate then.”

Yazi was stunned for a few seconds. Fiona hopped from one foot to the other.

“I, uh, should really get going now--”

“Yes, of course, me too, to be honest”, Yazi said, winding her arms around herself. It was full on raining now.

“Oh god, you should go stand under that bus stop thing or something, you’re going to get sick”, Fiona said, slight worry drawing her eyebrows together.

“It’s alright, I can handle it”, Yazi said and sneezed. Fiona made a distressed noise.

“No, you cannot you buffoon, go stand under there!”

“Alright, alright,” Yazi huffed, sniffing.

“See you soon?”, Fiona asked with caution in her voice and suddenly the cold was Yazi’s least priority.

“Definitely,” Yazi answered. 

“Well, uh. Bye, then?”

“Yep, see you later… Alligator, oh god, why did I say that.” Yazi groaned and Fiona who had already turned to go left snorted. Yazi kind of wanted to die.

She looked up to see that the sky was only darkening and hurried to find at least some sort of shelter underneath the leaking roof. The cold and wetness was seeping through her clothes and Yazi wasn’t too keen on spending the next few days in bed coughing her lungs up. Maybe she should go buy some cold medicine, just to be sure. PJ always chastised her for not taking care of herself enough and she had promised to work on that. Well, at least try to work on that. A car drove by, lights illuminating the slowly but steadily forming puddles next to the sidewalk. Of course the sunny weather wouldn’t last long in Manchester. Yazi suddenly missed her small town in Reading just a tiny little bit.

“Yazi!”, came a voice next to her just when she had sat down next to the garbage can and she thanked every higher power that she didn’t jump too easily. Instead she just looked around, startled, to find Fiona coming to a halt next to her, umbrella still in hand, her long hair disheveled by the wind.

“This may be weird, but you never know, so if there’s a possibility that we in fact never meet again I’d be super mad at myself for never asking this, so”, she took a breath and made eye contact. “Can I get your number?”

Yazi nearly laughed out loud, but the wide smile forming on her face seemed to send false signals anyway as Fiona’s short spurt of confidence visibly vanished with the tightening of her shoulders.

“You don’t have to, of course--”

“Of course I will”, Yazi said, standing up again. Fiona’s posture relaxed.

“Really? That’s cool, um.” She searched around her back pockets after pinning the mattress between her thighs. “Oh no, I think I forgot my phone? Um. This is awkward.”

“No problem, hold up--” Yazi searched around her jeans pockets until something that felt like paper grazed her fingers. She took it out. A Lidl receipt would probably do.

“Do you maybe have a pen?”

“That I actually do!”, Fiona said, magically producing one from one of her sleeves. Yazi laughed.

“Do you just keep random pens in weird places?” She took it and started scribbling her number on it, silently cursing her horrible handwriting.

“Maybe,” Fiona said, smiling. “You never know.”

“So. Here.” Yazi gave Fiona the piece of paper who folded it carefully.

“If I lose this I’m gonna hate myself forever”, Fiona sighed and put it in her front pocket. She pinned the mattress back under her arm.

“Don’t worry, I’m like 99% sure we’ll run into each other again, anyway. It’s like, fate or something.”

Fiona giggled. “Yeah, that’s true.” She glanced at the watch on her watch and for a short second Yazi was worried that she’d faint here and there.

“Oh god, it’s so late, I really have to get going now, um”, she started jogging backwards, “See you! Or text you? Maybe both? Anyway, bye!” And with that she turned around again and started sprinting, water splashing from under her feet with every step, silhouette growing hazier through the weight of the rain and Yazi just hoped Fiona’s boots were waterproof.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading <333

**Author's Note:**

> next update will be in two weeks! thanks for reading <33  
> [[tumblr link]](https://honeymoondp.tumblr.com/post/178018148571/title-candy-crush-rating-m-for-some-nsfw-<ish)


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